Organizing Content Using a Dynamic Profile

ABSTRACT

A portable data storage device ( 1 ) is disclosed to be used for organizing content ( 10, 11, 18 ) available to the data storage device ( 1 ). The device comprises means ( 12 ) for setting an information source ( 6 ) for a storage profile ( 9 ), a means ( 3 ) for receiving storage profile update data ( 7 ) from the information source ( 6 ), a means ( 4 ) for updating the storage profile ( 9 ) based upon the storage profile update data ( 7 ), a means ( 2 ) for organizing content ( 10, 11 ) based upon the storage profile ( 9 ) and a means ( 12, 13 ) for triggering the means ( 3 ) for receiving storage profile update data ( 7 ) from the information source ( 6 ). The device ( 1 ) is capable of organizing content in a dynamic manner based on data storage profiles that are also dynamic in nature whilst requiring minimum user intervention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a portable data storage device.

The invention further relates to a system for the storage of data.

The invention further relates to a method of a self organizing storageof data.

The invention further relates to a method of organizing of content in anetwork.

The invention further relates to a computer program product.

Portable data storage devices are well known from the state of the art.Such storage devices, for example CDs, DVDs, floppy discs or USB sticks,have the disadvantage that they are just “passive” storage media. Thismeans that these devices have no intelligence of their own and thereforecannot exert influence for instance on the kind of content or datastored (e.g. mp3 music, video, jpeg pictures, documents etc). Thereforeevery time a user wants to store content on such a device the user mustmanually select the respective content. Thus the ease of use is ratherlow. This is even more user unfriendly when the content collection is ofa non-static, or dynamic, nature, such as, for example, the latest musichits. This requires a user to manually modify the content collection onan even more regular basis.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a device of the type definedin the opening paragraph which is more user friendly.

In order to achieve the object defined above, with a device according tothe invention, characteristic features are provided so that a deviceaccording to the invention can be characterized in the way definedbelow, that is:

A portable data storage device comprising means for setting aninformation source for a storage profile to be used for organizingcontent available to the data storage device, means for receivingstorage profile update data from the information source, means forupdating the storage profile based upon the storage profile update datareceived from the information source, means for organizing content basedupon the storage profile and means for triggering the means forreceiving storage profile update data from the information source.

A system according to the invention can be characterized in the waydefined below, that is:

A distributed self organizing system for the storage of data, the systemcomprising at least two autonomous storage devices comprising means forexchanging data with one another, wherein the system is arranged tosearch for data stored on the storage devices, that match with a storageprofile of the storage devices and to store data matching with saidstorage profile in those storage devices with a matching storageprofile, the system further comprising means for receiving storageprofile update data from the information source, means for updating thestorage profile based upon the storage profile update data received fromthe information source and means for triggering the means for receivingstorage profile update data from the information source.

A method of a self organizing storage of data according to the inventioncan be characterized in the way defined below, that is:

A method of self organizing data, the method comprising the method stepsof setting an information source for a storage profile to be used fororganizing content available to the data storage device, retrievingstorage profile update data from the information source, updating thestorage profile based upon the storage profile update data received fromthe information source, organizing content based upon the storageprofile and triggering the means for receiving storage profile updatedata from the information source.

A method of self organizing of content in a network according to theinvention can be characterized in the way defined below, that is:

A method of organizing content in a distributed self organizing systemof data storage devices, each comprising a storage profile, and aninformation source, the method comprising the method steps oftransmission of a request for storage profile update data to theinformation source, receiving the storage profile update data from theinformation source, updating the each storage profile based upon thestorage profile update data received from the information source,organizing content based upon the each storage profile, and triggeringthe transmission of a request for storage profile update data to theinformation source.

A computer program product according to the invention can becharacterized in the way defined below, that is:

A computer program product directly loadable into the memory of aprogrammable device, comprising software code portions for performingthe steps of a method of a self organizing storage of data according tothe invention or for performing the steps of a method of organizing ofcontent in a network according to the invention.

The measures according to the invention provide the advantage that it ispossible to achieve a physical and semantic self-organization of memorycontents based upon a storage profile that is regularly updated. Sincethe data are stored on different devices according to the storageprofiles of the devices, a user is enabled to physically retrieve storedcontent by selecting a storage device. Also intelligentself-organization of content based upon the content itself incombination with the regular updating of the storage profile onlyrequires a user to initially identify a source for storage profileupdate data, the storage profile thereafter being regularly updated,whereby the process of self-organization is advantageously made easy tomanage for both static and dynamic storage profiles.

The measures as claimed in claim 2 provide the advantage that a physicalorganization of contents stored can be achieved very quickly andefficiently.

It has proved to be particularly advantageous if the measures of claim 3are provided. This achieves the advantage of providing a simple mannerto replace a storage profile.

The measures as claimed in claim 4 provide the advantage that a storagedevice can make direct use of information from an information source ina storage profile.

The measures as claimed in claim 5 provide the advantage thatinformation from an information source can still be used to create astorage profile independent of the format of the information.

The measures as claimed in claim 6 provide the advantage that theanalysis method can be retrieved and updated at any time.

The measures as claimed in claim 7 provide the advantage that theanalysis method related to a particular storage profile can be logicallylocated with that storage profile.

The measures as claimed in claim 8 provide the advantage that theanalysis method can be updated from a remote device or service offeringimproved functionality and flexibility.

The measures as claimed in claim 9 provide a simple and efficient sourceof semantically valuable information that can be used as input to theself-organization process.

The measures as claimed in claim 10 provides a metadata search serviceto other data storage devices improving the performance of satisfying asearch request.

The measures as claimed in claims 11 provide the advantage that theorganization of the content is in optimal agreement with the storageprofile of each data storage device.

The measures as claimed in claim 12 further provides the advantage thatthe device autonomously analyzes the content of data without the need ofreceiving additional information from outside. Further it can be provedvery easily using the metadata, whether content stored on a devicematches with the storage profile of another device.

The measures as claimed in claims 13 provide the advantage that datastorage devices can communicate without wires.

The measures as claimed in claim 14 provide the advantage that the datastorage device can update a storage profile based on a regular timebasis, such as daily or weekly.

The measures as claimed in claim 15 provide the advantage that a usercan initiate the updating of a storage profile.

The measures as claimed in claim 18 provide the advantage that a datastorage device can use its own known resources to determine content tobe requested from other data storage devices and thereby guaranteeperformance.

The measures as claimed in claim 19 provide the advantage that a datastorage device can efficiently organize content with other data storagedevices.

The measures as claimed in claim 20 provide the advantage that a datastorage device can have limited resources and therefore be inexpensive.

The measures as claimed in claim 21 provide the advantage that a datastorage device can efficiently organize content with other data storagedevices.

The measures as claimed in claim 22 provide the advantage thatinformation from an information source can still be used to create astorage profile independent of the format of the information.

The measures as claimed in claim 23 provide the advantage that a datastorage device is independent of any external source of metadatainformation.

The aspects defined above and further aspects of the invention areapparent from the examples of embodiment to be described hereinafter andare explained with reference to these examples of embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described in more detail hereinafter withreference to examples of embodiment but to which the invention is notlimited.

FIG. 1 shows a portable storage device according to the invention in theform of a block diagram.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of a content self-organization process usingupdated storage profiles according to the invention.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a content self organization process indetail where a pull mode is used according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a content self organization process indetail where a push mode is used according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a system according to the invention.

FIG. 6 shows a typical storage profile according to the invention.

The Figures are schematically drawn and not true to scale, and theidentical reference numerals in different Figures refer to correspondingelements. It will be clear for those skilled in the art, thatalternative but equivalent embodiments of the invention are possiblewithout deviating from the true inventive concept, and that the scope ofthe invention will be limited by the claims only.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a portable storage device according to the invention. Theportable storage device according to the invention, in the following forthe reason of easier readability indicated as “storage bubble 1”, is anautonomous storage container. “Autonomous” means that the storage bubble1 forms an independent structural unity. The storage bubble 1 comprisesmeans for autonomously looking for data stored on another devicematching with a storage profile 9 of the storage bubble 1. At this pointit is important to mention that autonomous means that it can act byitself.

The means for autonomously looking for data and storing these data are,according to the embodiment shown, embodied by means of a processor 15,which comprises a respective software that is executable by theprocessor 15, communication means 3 connected with the processor 15 andat least one permanent memory 5 accessible by the processor 15 by knownmeans to the person skilled in the art. Instead of using the suitableprogrammed processor 15 the storage bubble 1 can be provided with one ormore circuits realizing the same functionalities. A dynamic memory couldalso be provided and be understood to comprise the same meaning as thatof having a memory and a processor integrated into each other. Thecommunication means 3 can be realized, for example, with a means forwired or wireless communication. Such communication means could be via aUniversal Serial Bus (USB), a Bluetooth, a Wireless Fidelity Connection(WI-FI) or communication according to the Near Field Communication (NFC)standard. By means of the communication means 3 the storage bubble 1 cancommunicate with other storage bubbles or other devices. Furthermore,the storage bubble 1 comprises an internal current supply that is notshown in FIG. 1, for example, a battery or an accumulator. The storagebubble 1 has preferably no means for rendering content. Thus an opticalor acoustic rendering of content is expected to take place on a remoterendering device, although preferably metadata could be rendered on thestorage bubble 1. However, in principle the storage bubble 1 can bemerged with a rendering device too, such as an MP3 player, for example.

A user can set a storage profile 9 for the storage bubble 1 being forinstance: “This bubble will be used in low bandwidth environments”, forexample, environments where only communication via Bluetooth isavailable, or “popular music only.”

This storage profile 9 provides the storage bubble 1 with informationabout the content to gather. The storage profile 9 is, according to theembodiment shown, stored in the permanent memory 5 of the storage bubble1 and be defined at different levels of granularity.

The storage profile 9 can, for instance, only contain information aboutthe type of content that shall be stored in the permanent memory 5 ofthe storage bubble 1, for example, audio, video, digital pictures andtext or other types of data. In this case the storage bubble 1 willcollect any audio, video, text or other type of data. For all contenttypes selected in the storage profile 9 a bandwidth profile can be givenby providing a target bit rate or target communication technology, forexample, Bluetooth for the selected content type.

Further the user 14 can give more specific information about the chosencontent when setting up the storage profile 9. Setting up the storageprofile 9 for videos can be based on a selection from a standard set ofgenres, events or content moods, such as romantic, funny, etc. Settingup the storage profile 9 for videos can be further based on keywords inthe title, author information and spoken words in the content or piecesof video, for example.

For audio data the set up of the storage profile 9 can be based on aselection from a standard set of genres, events or content moods.Setting up the storage profile 9 for audio content can also be based onkeywords in the title, artist information and spoken/sung words in thecontent. Audio profiles can in principle also be based on audiofingerprints, “humming” or other acoustic information, for example,where the user hums what the audio should sound like. In the last casethe storage device can comprise means for the input of voice such as amicrophone. For text contents setting up the storage profile 9 can bebased on keywords. For data of any type setting up the storage profile 9can be based on file name and file extension.

However it is possible that the storage profile 9 contains informationof how to deal with contents created on certain dates. Thus it ispossible to discriminate on file creation or file modification date. Inthis way storage bubble 1 interconnected with a second data storagedevice 8 and constituting a network, also as shown in FIG. 1 canorganize the available content according to the storage profile 9 basedon time, which results in an automatic archival system. Of courseprofiling based on content and creation date can be combined. In thisway the storage profile 9 can be created such that the storage bubble 1will store for example the latest news.

The storage profile 9 can comprise multiple elements, but preferably atleast a group identity, which may in turn comprise elements such as oneor more network identifiers, stating to which network(s) of storagedevices this device belongs to, one or more user identifiers stating whois/are the owner(s) of this device, or an explicit data sequence codingthe information “open to all” to state that content may be accessedand/or possibly changed by anyone or any device. Furthermore, it ispreferable if the storage profile 9 also comprises one or more contentcollection rules, i.e. coding for “what type of content should thisdevice gather”, where each rule can comprise the rule's scope, i.e. aset of attributes and their mutual relations, for example using Booleanlogic, describing the properties of content that are required to let acontent item fall under the scope of this rule. Any content item that isin the scope of a rule will be subject to the rule's action. The scopespecification may also include whether the rule applies only to contenton the portable device, only to content outside the portable device, orall content wherever it is stored. The rule's action is a specificationof the action that needs to be taken by the host device when a contentitem falls under the scope of this rule. Actions are for example:“request this content item to be moved to the current device”; “requestthis content item to be moved away from the current device”; or “requestthis content item only if no other device wants to request it with animportance value>=15”. The inclusion of group identity data above is amatter of definition: one could also state that each device contains agroup identity data item and a profile data item consisting of rules. Itis perfectly possible that a device contains multiple profiles, forexample, one for each network that the device is a part of. Then, thedevice is actually part of multiple systems.

A typical embodiment of a storage profile in XML format according to theinvention is shown in FIG. 6. It should be noted that some elements ofthe storage profile defined in FIG. 6 that are obvious to the skilledperson are not complete and are identified by three dots. Typically, the<rules> part is updated more often than the <datasource> part. Thelatter part could be entirely fixed, or could also be updatedperiodically, for example, this is useful if a web site changes its dataformat.

The storage bubble 1 also comprises an input means 12, shown in FIG. 1,for the input of the storage profile 9 or the input of an informationsource 6 for storage profile update data 7. The input means 12 may be atouch screen with menu navigation, simple keypad or another known inputmeans. Furthermore, the storage profile 9 can for instance be enteredvia an external computer connected with the storage bubble 1 via awireless or wired connection. In this case a user interface of thestorage bubble 1 for entering the storage profile 9 can be transferredto the computer and shown on a display of the computer. It should beunderstood that the use of multiple information sources as theinformation source 6 is also an obvious extension of the presentinvention.

To make setting of the storage profile 9 easier a user can choose frompreset contents and data formats the favored contents and formats, forexample, by activating the desired contents and formats via mouse click.However, it can also be provided that several pre-defined storageprofiles are available. Thus a user can choose one of several presetstorage profiles of the storage bubble 1.

In addition, the storage profile 9 could be created by providing one ormore content items to use as examples from which a storage profile 9 canbe derived. For example, the user may select several photos, forexample, beach photos, and then tell the storage bubble 1 to generate astorage profile 9 based on these photos. After this the storage bubble 1will look for other beach photos stored on other devices, such as thesecond data storage device 8, as well. This provides the advantage thatthe user does not have to specify a detailed storage profile 9, and onlyhas to provide examples of the content that should be stored on thestorage bubble 1.

It is an advantageous feature of the invention that the storage profile9 may be regularly updated since in general a self organizing storagedevice having a storage profile 9 requires that the storage profile 9 beupdated by a user manually for each individual storage bubble 1, i.e.when changes are desired, manual actions are required. This is a severedisadvantage when a user would like to have a storage bubble 1containing a non-static collection of content, like for example “thelatest hits”. Then, a user has to manually find the most popular songsor artists at a given moment, and set these songs or artists in thestorage profile 9. Furthermore, this process has to be regularlyperformed in order to stay up to date with the latest hits. So themanual solution is infeasible in practice. The same problem exists forstorage profiles like ‘music similar to sky radio’, or contentrecommended by a website, in fact, for any data which may changefrequently.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1 a profile maintenance unit 4 receives anindication from a user 14 of an information source 6 from which storageprofile update data 7 can be retrieved. The indication can be a UniformResource Locator (URL) or other known means for identifying a locationon a network 17. The profile maintenance unit 4 communicates with theinformation source 6 via a communicating means 3 and a known network 17,for example, the Internet. As in known the network 17 may compriseintermediate devices through which connections may be built. The storageprofile update data 7 can be in a format that is directly applicable toa storage profile 9, i.e. already be in storage profile format, or thestorage profile update data 7 can be raw information, which has to beanalyzed further before the storage profile 9 can be constructed. Suchfurther analysis is performed by the profile maintenance unit 4 andresults in an update to the storage profile 9. The analysis method usedby the profile maintenance unit 4 can, in turn, be a method or algorithmcomprised within the storage profile 9, or be loaded onto the storagebubble 1 the first time that the storage profile 9 is set by the user14. The analysis method may be comprised within a first-time storageprofile, i.e. before any storage profile updates have occurred and maycome from any external source, for example, from a website, RF-ID tag, aCD-ROM, another storage device, email, etc. The analysis method couldoptionally be implemented as executable code. It could also be specifiedindirectly through an interpreted declarative language. Furthermore, acombination of the measures identified may be used.

Once a storage profile 9 is set or is updated on a storage bubble 1, thestorage bubble 1 uses the new storage profile for self-organization ofcontent within the system, which the storage bubble 1 is a part of.Furthermore, the storage profile 9 may also be used for acquisition ofnew content that is not yet present in the system. This may include amethod of online payment using known electronic commerce measures.

The flowchart of FIG. 2 indicates the method according to the inventionfor updating the storage profile 9. At step 20 the information source 6to use as a source for storage profile update data 7 is set. Asdescribed earlier this can be input directly by user 14 using the inputmeans 12, or from a remote location connected by the communication means3 and the network 17. At step 21 the storage profile update data 7 isretrieved from the information source 6 using the communication means 3and the network 17. At step 22 the storage profile 9 is updated by thestorage maintenance unit 4. The updated storage profile 9 is then storedin permanent memory 5. At step 23 a process step of self-organization isperformed. This method step, step 23, may also be implemented as aparallel process to the updating of the storage profile 9, however, acertain amount of cross process communication will be necessary toprevent inconsistencies occurring in the storage profile 9. At step 24 adecision point is reached where it is checked whether it is necessary,or not, to update the storage profile 9 again. The trigger condition forinitiating an update to the storage profile 9 can be time relatedinitiated by a timing means 13, such as, a timer or clock. The triggercondition could also be initiated by the input means 12 by a user 14, orfrom a device on the network 17 via communication means 3.

An important concept used within the organization of data in the presentcontext is content metadata. This metadata provides information aboutcontent such as: Title of content, video/program or music genre,positions of events in the content, such as football goal events,descriptions of events in the content, time/date of creation, GPSlocation of creation, content mood, low-level content features, such asaverage luminance, amount of motion in video content, audio features,etc. It could also be content signatures, i.e. humming signature, forinstance, or information of how content is encoded, bit rateinformation, objects on a photo, etc. The metadata may also be embeddedwithin the content according to known standards, such as EXIF, ID3, anMPEG standard or according to a proprietary means.

In the flowchart of FIG. 3 an embodiment of the self organizing processwhich works in a pull mode of operation is shown that uses suchmetadata. In step 30 such metadata is exchanged between storage bubbles.The metadata of content is used to decide in step 31, based on thestorage profile 9, if the content stored on a second data storage device8 is of interest to the storage bubble 1 and if and how the contentshall be processed. Metadata of content could already be available froma stationary storage device however this should not be expected bydefault. In order to keep the storage bubble 1 independent from thefunctionality of other devices the storage bubble 1 can comprise meansfor analyzing data on its own. This analyzing means can for instance berealized with software installed on the processor 15 of the storagebubble 1. This analyzing software can be realized by means of softwareas, for instance, commonly used for speech pattern recognition. Theanalyzed data can for instance be searched for specific keywords.According to the result of the analyzing process metadata containinginformation about the analyzed content can be created. This metadata canprovide the information described above. The metadata of analyzedcontent are preferably stored in the storage bubble 1. Whether acontent, or to be more exact the data containing this content, matchwith the storage profile 9 of the storage bubble 1 can be proved via acomparison of the storage profile 9 with the metadata of the contentbeing analyzed.

In step 32 content is requested from other storage bubbles that agreeswith the storage profile 9 of the storage bubble 1. In step 33 thereplies, if any, from the other storage bubbles are received. Accordingto an embodiment of the invention the storage profile 9 of the storagebubble 1 can also contain information about the desired storage bubblebehavior concerning, for instance, when to delete or move what contentand what part of the content specified by the storage profile 9 hashigher priority than another part of the content linked to the storageprofile 9. When almost all the storage capacity of the storage bubble 1is used the storage bubble 1 can make a decision how to respond to thissituation. The storage bubble 1 can request another storage bubble, suchas the second data storage device 8, of a network 17 of storage bubbles1 as shown in FIG. 1 to accept content that fits the storage profile 9less than other content stored on the asking storage bubble 1. So somecontent defined by the storage profile 9 can be given more priority thanother content. This priority can be defined by the user 14 in thestorage profile 9 when setting up this storage profile 9 of the storagebubble 1. The reverse situation is also possible whereby the second datastorage device 8 transmits requests to the storage bubble 1 as denotedin step 34 of FIG. 3. Such request must, of course, be evaluated bystorage bubble 1 with respect to the storage profile 9, as shown in step35. Thereafter, the storage bubble 1 can decide to grant each request instep 36. For granted requests storage bubble 1 then sends any contentrequested by the second data storage device 8. This cycle is repeatedfor step 38 until all requests have been processed.

It should be noted that complex negotiation, as described above, is notexplicitly required to practice the invention and that defaultnegotiation strategies may be used. In the simplest form, such asdefault negotiation strategy could be, for example, grant all requests.

In FIG. 4 a further embodiment of the self organizing process is shownthat make use of a push mode. Initially at step 40 all relevant storageprofiles are exchanged between the storage bubbles present on thenetwork 17. Each storage bubble then determines in step 41 which contentset is to be offered to which storage bubble. Step 42 involves thetransmission of each offer to designated storage bubbles on the network17. In the co-operating process each storage bubble can receive offersfrom other storage bubbles on the network 17, as shown in step 43, andthereafter in step 44 transmit an agreed content set to the otherstorage bubbles. For empty content sets step 44 may, of course, be a “nooperation” step. Storage bubble 1 may also receive unsolicited offersfrom other storage bubbles as shown in step 45, which must be evaluatedin step 46 with reference to the storage profile 9. Each offer must bedecided upon in step 47 and for acknowledged offers an acceptance can betransmitted to the offering storage bubble in step 48. The storagebubble 1 can then receive the offered content in step 49. All offersshould, of course, be evaluated and this is performed in step 50 of FIG.4. Again the complex negotiation, as described above, is not explicitlyrequired to practice the invention and that default negotiationstrategies may be used.

It can be furthermore defined in the storage profile 9 what to do whenthe storage bubble 1 is full and no other storage bubble acceptscontent. In this case the storage bubble 1 can according to the settingsof the storage profile 9 delete content directly, stop immediately withgathering content or delete content only after a few days or weeks andthen continue gathering and organizing. All these features of thestorage bubble 1 are provided by the aid of the communication means 3,the permanent memory 5 and the processor 15 mentioned above.

In addition the processor 15 of the storage bubble 1 can, for example,comprise software for monitoring how full the permanent memory 5 is. Ifthe stored content in permanent memory 5 represents a size that is morethan a certain threshold the processor 15 can transmit via thecommunication means 3 content and the associated metadata to the seconddata storage device 8.

If the storage bubble 1 requests the transfer of content to the seconddata storage device 8 because the storage bubble 1 is full there isprovided an acceptance policy in place. This policy can, for instance,be based on the level of storage profile fitness of the content, thestorage capacity available and a minimum reserve storage capacity of thesecond data storage device 8.

The content from stationary storage devices or other storage bubblescopied or moved to the storage bubble 1 can be downscaled versions orotherwise processed versions of the original content. For instance, towatch a video on a Personal Digital Assistant while traveling couldrequire a low bit rate or low-resolution version of the original video.Said downscaling and processing can be carried out, for instance, bymeans of a suitable programming of the processor 15.

In principle content processing functions, such as transcoding, that arefrequently needed are realized in the storage bubble 1 itself, asmentioned above, to keep it as autonomous as possible.

But it is also possible that a stationary storage device or any otherdevice processes the content of interest for the interested storagebubble 1 as a service. For instance, a Hard Disc Drive recorder usuallyhas an encoder/decoder functionality. This functionality can be used totranscode a requested video stream to the requested format. Transcodingand other processing functionalities can be offered through standardizedinterfaces and service discovery, for instance using Universal Plug andPlay (UPnP).

The storage bubble 1 may further comprise a means for contentindication. This means can for instance be realized with Light EmittingDiodes (LEDs) that light up a housing of the storage bubble 1 indifferent colors according to the content stored. The exterior of thestorage bubble 1 can be divided into a number of sections, for examplefour, representing different types of content, e.g. audio, video,digital pictures and text (Word, pdf, etc.) or data (Excel, binary datanot audio or video etc.) or indicating semantics like, for instance,“beach” photos, family pictures, “scuba-diving” pictures and pictures ofa new born child. Every section may have its own color created by usingthe LEDs, as mentioned above, or other means of illumination. The amountof data of a certain kind or the amount of content stored in the storagebubble 1 can be shown by the intensity of the assigned color. Forinstance, the brighter the color allocated to a certain content type themore of that kind of content is stored on the storage bubble 1. In otherwords the external appearance of the storage bubble 1 can depend on thecontent stored in the storage bubble 1. For instance if the storagebubble 1 changes into red it indicates that it mostly contains audio orif the device turns into green it indicates that mainly action moviesare stored on it. In this way a rudimentary selection of content from aset of portable storage devices is made very easy for the user.

When a storage bubble 1 is selected based on this rudimentaryinformation about the content, more detailed indication methods canprovide further information about the content to the user, for example,by means of a display on which the user 14 can browse through thecontent stored on the storage bubble 1. For instance the display of thestorage bubble 1 can show multiple icons of different sizes, wherein anicon indicates what content is stored and the size of the icon 1 canindicate how much is stored of that content type. Furthermore, thedisplay can be of the E-ink display type. This means that the icons onthe display remain visible for a few days even though the display is notpowered. In such a way there may be no need for LED lights forindication. The display could actually be a “skin” of the device; theskin is visible from all sides making it easier to visually select astorage bubble from different perspectives.

To make it possible to compare the amount of content of differentmodality, for example, audio and video, the icon size can be related tothe number of streams or files stored on the device rather than thestorage size. Using, for instance, a touch screen interface clicking anicon will show a list or summaries of the content represented by theicon.

It is possible to realize just one of the above mentioned indicationmethods (via display, or color) or a combination of these indicationmethods in the storage bubble 1.

Summarizing the indication methods it can be said that the color(illumination) indication is the most rudimentary and provides a firstclue to the user 14. When picking up the storage device 1 the user 14can switch on the display, if one is provided, and see what is stored inthe storage bubble 1 in more detail by looking at the icons. If, basedon the icons, the content type of interest is available the user 14 canbrowse further by selecting the icon of interest.

In order to save battery life the storage bubble 1 may also comprise aproximity detection mechanism, or a “pick up” detection mechanism,detecting when the storage bubble 1 is physically moved. In this casethe different types of optical indications only light up when a user 14is close to the storage bubble 1 or when the storage bubble 1 is pickedup. The proximity detection mechanism can, for instance, be realized bymeans of a motion detector connected to the processor 15 that controlsthe illumination means, for example, the LEDs. The pick up detectionmechanism can for instance be realized by means of a contact sensor,wherein the contact sensor can be connected with the processor 15controlling the illumination means.

Specific content can for instance be represented on the display in thefollowing ways: Video streams can be summarized by showing a videomanga, where a video manga is a video summary in the form of a(Japanese) comic book, a sequence of key frames, a trailer showing somekey scenes or a DVD or VHS box cover. Also a simple list with the titleand playing actors can be given. For digital pictures, for instance,thumbnail versions can be shown or an automatically generated photocollage of a set of pictures can be shown. Playing the chorus in case ofa popular song, showing the CD cover with song title, showing atranscript of the speech in the audio, could represent audio streams orshowing text parts of a text document. In all cases also a simpledirectory tree showing file name and other attributes could be given.

The content retrieval process can start with selecting the storagebubble 1 based on very rudimentary representation of stored content, forexample, by color intensity. For example, if the storage bubble 1 has abright red color and assuming red presents video, the storage bubble 1therefore contains videos. When selected the display is turned on and itis identified in more detail what type of content is available on theselected storage bubble 1 indicated by means of icons with differentsizes. If a user 14 is looking for comedy series, the user can select“comedy series” icon, assuming such an icon exists.

If the content type of interest is available the content of that typecan be browsed using summarized representations. In the present examplethe user 14 can browse through comedy series. The respective video coveror manga can represent the comedy series stored, for instance.

Because different media, such as audio, video and pictures needdifferent storage capacities and have different content analysis needs,multiple kinds of storage bubbles can be defined. Different storagebubble types can be sold as active counter parts of passive storagemedia. This will certainly be possible looking at the decreasing trendof processing, storage and networking technology costs. Storage bubblemodels with the following storage capacities and functionality could bedifferentiated for instance:

A storage bubble 1 with the storage capacity of a typical memory stickor other solid-state memory card, e.g. 128 MB, with text and spreadsheetanalysis capabilities and simple text and spreadsheet browsingcapabilities or image content analysis capabilities and image thumbnailrendering capabilities;

a storage bubble 1 with the storage capacity of a normal CD with audioor content analysis capabilities and simple audio renderingcapabilities;

a storage bubble 1 with the storage capacity of a DVD with video contentanalysis capabilities and simple video summarization capabilities usingthumbnail key frames or a thumbnail video manga compilation;

a storage bubble 1 with the storage capacity of a BluRay Disc with videocontent analysis capabilities and simple video summarizationcapabilities using thumbnail key frames or a thumbnail video mangacompilation or a generic storage bubble 1 with a storage capacity of alarge HDD, for example, 5 Gb to 300 GB, and a large variety of contentanalysis capabilities.

What wired or wireless networking capabilities are present could also bedifferentiated although this will limit the communication only todevices that have the same communication and networking capabilities.

Using for instance a Wireless Fidelity Connection (WI-FI connection) thestorage bubble 1 can also directly access an Internet service via aWI-FI access point connected to a broadband connection, e.g. ADSL. As aservice it is possible to download different content analysisfunctionalities for a fee from a server via the Internet such that thestorage bubble 1 can change its “expertise” from, for instance, audio todigital pictures. The service lists all the content analysispossibilities for each storage bubble model.

Further the Internet service may provide content that matches to thestorage profile 9 of the storage bubble 1. The content of interest canbe bought directly, or downloaded for free, from the Internet service.The user 14 can, for instance, set in the storage profile 9 of thestorage bubble 1 the maximum amount of money that the storage bubble 1can spend. The user 14 can give, when subscribing to the online service,all information to make an automatic purchase possible, for example,credit card information.

To give a user more control over purchase the user 14 can get a message,for example, an SMS, MMS or e-mail, with a link to a site enabling theuser 14 to cancel or approve the order put by a storage bubble 1. Themessage mentioned above could be transmitted to the storage bubble 1 andbe displayed on the storage bubble 1. Although the focus here is onportable storage bubbles 1 the method described above can be applied tonetwork storage devices in general.

FIG. 5 shows a distributed self organizing system 52 for the storage ofdata according to the invention. The system comprises a network 17 of Nstorage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 of the type of the storage bubble 1described above and shown in FIG. 1. The network 17 can also comprisestationary and non-autonomous storage devices, such as, for instance, aPersonal Computer, a home media server, a HDD-, DVD- or so called “blueray disc” recorder. Content of interest for a storage bubble 1, 8, 50,51 not available on any of the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 can beretrieved from the stationary or other storage devices that can storecontent from external sources like analog audio/video broadcasts,digital video broadcasts, digital home video/picture/audio content,internet content or non broadcasted published content (audio, CD, DVD,etc.). Content can also be available from the network 17, for example,the Internet.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5 the storage bubble 1 contacts an informationsource 6 from which storage profile update data 7 can be retrieved. Theindication can be a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other known meansfor identifying a location on a network 17, for example, the Internet.Once a storage profile 9 is set or is updated on a storage bubble 1, thestorage bubble 1 uses the new storage profile for self-organization ofcontent within the system, which the storage bubble 1 is a part of viacontent move actions 54 or content copy actions 55. Furthermore, thestorage profile 9 may also be used for acquisition of new content thatis not yet present in the system. This may include a method of onlinepayment using known electronic commerce measures 57 from a onlineretailer 56.

Self organization of the content stored in the system 52 can be achievedvery easily since the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 are arranged toexchange content and other data, for example, metadata, with oneanother, using wired or wireless networking technology, for instanceUSB, WI-FI and Bluetooth, such that the storage profiles of all thebubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 are satisfied as much as possible.

The protocol and interface for content and (meta)data exchange andprocessing can for instance be an industry standard protocol andinterface, e.g. MPEG-21, UPnP, or any proprietary protocol andinterface.

Although digital home video/audio/pictures can be seen as an externalsource digital video cameras and audio recorders having networkcapabilities can directly be accessed by a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51.In general any device with network capabilities that implements aprotocol and interface for content and metadata exchange and processingcan directly be accessed by a storage bubble.

Storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 in general communicate and exchangeinformation by a standardized protocol STP and standardized interfaceSTI. In general storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 do not have means todirectly get content from input sources such as analog cable TV/radio ora DVD. To get content not already available on the storage bubblenetwork, they can communicate, using for instance a WI-FI connection,with storage devices which have these means. In order to do this with alarge number of devices from different vendors the interfaces andprotocols used are preferably standard.

Although a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 could, in principle, get contentdirectly from input sources this is not the main intention of storagebubbles. Although storage bubbles can have different forms andimplementations, they are generic storage devices independent of anyform of content type and specific means of retrieving information, suchas a tuner for analogue digital video broadcasts or a DVD. Further thecosts of a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 as a consumer electronics productshould be low such that consumers are willing to buy many storagebubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 enabling the concept of self organization. Butnevertheless a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 can comprise, although it isnot the preferred embodiment, rendering capabilities.

The more storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 there are available in the system52 the more fine grained the content can be semantically segmented overmultiple storage bubbles, the easier it gets to physically retrievespecific content by selecting a specific bubble, the bigger the totalstorage capacity of the bubble network, the more content redundancy canbe created, the easier it is for users to consume the same content atpossibly multiple locations that are not connected through acommunication network.

Further the system 52 is arranged to search for data stored on thestorage devices 1, 8, 50, 51 that match with storage profiles of thestorage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 and to store data matching with the storageprofile of a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 in this bubble.

For instance, referring again to FIG. 5, one storage bubble 1 has theprofile to collect songs of a certain kind for a low bandwidthenvironment, for example, environments where only communication viaBluetooth is available. It will communicate with other storage bubbles8, 50, 51 of the same or other type and ask for popular songs in a lowbit rate format. A storage bubble 51 that has some popular songs couldfor instance, indicate that the popular songs can be moved, using acontent move action 54, to the storage bubble 1 instead of copiedbecause the popular songs do not really fit in its own profile, andbetter fit with the other storage bubble's profile. Another, storagebubble 8, could decide in fact to copy content to the storage bubble 1using a content copy action 55.

The self-organization of the storage system 52 results in a physicalseparation of content on the different storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51. Auser can physically grab the content he or she is interested in becauseof the storage bubble's means of showing what content is stored on astorage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51. In this way the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50,51 organize the available content such that the content stored on eachstorage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 complies with its storage profile as good aspossible. This mechanism enables users to physically get content theyare interested in by selecting a storage bubble. Thus the system 52comprising storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 represents a distributed storagehome network.

By physically organizing content in the portable storage bubbles 1, 8,50, 51 according to the invention it is not hard to envision aconsumer's home filled with storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 of this kind indrawers, under the bed, close to some rendering devices etc. If, forinstance, a user likes to watch action movies he/she could look in thedrawer for a green lit storage bubble, when green corresponds to thegenre “action movies”. When the user found such a bubble he/she could,for instance, put it close to a TV equipped with means for communicatingwith the storage bubble, e.g. Bluetooth, and play one of the actionmovies stored on the bubble. Alternatively, for example, the user couldinstruct the storage bubble to stream the content to the TV of choice.

In general there are three sources of content for a storage bubble 1, 8,50, 51: other storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51, stationary storage devicesor an external network such as the Internet. For all content stored onstorage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 metadata will be available that is neededby another storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 to decide whether the content isof interest. On the other hand, for stationary storage devices and othercommon storage devices the availability of the metadata of interest oreven any metadata cannot be assumed.

Assuming that a stationary or other storage device provides UPnP likeservices, such as providing lists of available content and of what typethe content is, for example, pictures, audio, video or any other type ofdata, a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 can download and analyze the contentstored on these devices. Based on this analysis a storage bubble 1, 8,50, 51 can decide by comparing the analyzed content with its storageprofile what content to copy to its own storage space. Content analysisof content from a stationary or other storage device has to be performedonly if no other storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 has analyzed that contentbefore to obtain the same metadata. To ascertain whether a content inquestion is already analyzed a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 can send arequest to the other storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 in the network 17.

A storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 will start analyzing external content onlyif the request to other storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 for metadata didnot succeed. A storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 can store metadata of anycontent analyzed by that storage bubble, even if the content was notcopied to the storage bubble, because it did not fit the profile of thedevice.

Because the amount of content to be analyzed can be large a storagebubble 1, 8, 50, 51 can request other storage bubbles to help to searchfor content that fits the profile of the storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51requesting the help. Storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 that honor thatrequest for help get assigned a part of the content list to analyze. Thehelping storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 send the content analysis resultsback to the requesting storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51.

According to an embodiment of the invention the storage bubbles 1, 8,50, 51 can decide to honor a content analysis help request if they havefulfilled their own profile goal. That is when all content availablefrom any storage device, including other storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51,has been analyzed and no new content was found that matches the assignedstorage profile. Using a standard like UPnP, a storage bubble 1, 8, 50,51 can subscribe to a storage device to get a signal when new content isavailable on that storage device. When it is signaled, the respectivestorage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 could analyze the content and decide if thecontent is of interest based on the assigned storage profile.

In principle it is also possible that a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51misses some of content analysis capabilities that are required tofulfill its profile. In that case a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 canaccording to an embodiment of the invention negotiate with anotherstorage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 with the right capabilities to do thecontent analysis.

The generated metadata of any content that is analyzed is kept on thestorage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 that has analyzed the content. If thecontent analysis was done upon request of another storage bubble 1, 8,50, 51 the metadata can also be copied to the requesting storage bubble.The metadata is associated with content through identifying informationabout the content, such as file name and creation date or a previouslyassigned unique ID number.

By keeping the metadata of any content analyzed on the storage bubbles1, 8, 50, 51 that analyzed the content or has requested analysis apartially redundant distributed meta data database builds up in thenetwork of storage bubbles. Thus by means of the storage systemaccording to the invention a distributed metadata database can beachieved.

It must be noted that the content analysis could be replaced by humanannotation of the content using a user interface. This is only feasibleif the metadata of interest is restricted to rudimentary informationsuch as genre. Semi-automatic annotation techniques can result in moredetailed annotations, for example, the user can indicate in one imagewho is the grandmother, the storage bubble can use this information tofind and annotate the presence of the grandmother in other images.

According to an embodiment of the invention a user is able to controlwhich of the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 or other devices have accesscontrol to the content stored on the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51. Forinstance, using UPnP, a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 can discover otherdevices in the network. For each device the user can specify what accessrights it has. Also access rules with which a user can provide generalsecurity rules, for example, “all devices can access all music on thisbubble”, can be defined in the profiles of the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50,51.

Since all storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 can communicate and exchange datawith one another all of the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 of the network17 can be virtually represented by any device able to communicate withthe storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51.

A device can represent a remote storage bubble, indicated with 1, 8, 50,51, and can browse all content stored on this storage bubble 1, 8, 50,51.

Also for playback of streams or viewing files the stream or file of aremote storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 can be routed to the representingdevice. This device can be used as a storage device manager. This“manager” device can, for instance, temporarily act as a master in thenetwork 17 of storage bubbles. This master collects information from theother storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 in the network 17.

From the perspective of the manager device representing any storagebubble 1, 8, 50, 51 in the network 17, all of the content in the storagenetwork 17 seems to be hierarchically clustered in an intelligent way.This is because the content is intelligently clustered over multiplelevels of information detail, for example, on the highest level only acolor indicator is used on a lower level icons are used, etc. Especiallywhen users have many storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 it is of interest tohave an overview of all storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 in the network 17.In general, from the perspective of the manager device, the user cantransparently browse the combined storage space created by all storagebubbles 1, 8, 50, 51; thus the user does not have to know on whichstorage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51 content of interest is stored.

Retrieval of desired content using the master device providing anoverview of all the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 in the storage system52, can be performed by giving rudimentary visual information about whatis stored on the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51. By selecting an iconrepresenting a storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51, for example, via point andclick or by touch, more information about the content stored on theselected storage bubble can be presented.

The user interface of the selected storage bubble can be routed to andshown on the manager device. In this way using a storage bubble as astorage bubble manager a user can perform search actions remotely. Evenmore the device manager can route audio and video streamed from theremote storage bubble to a rendering device.

Thus the manager device can act as a virtual representation of a remotestorage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51. If a user does not want to physically get acertain storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51, the user can pick up a storagebubble 1, 8, 50, 51 close to him or her and use this as a virtualrepresentation of the selected storage bubble 1, 8, 50, 51. To providethe manager functionality described above the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50,51 can each comprise respective software installed in their processors.In a preferred embodiment a user can choose from a menu shown on thedisplay of the selected bubble, for example, the bubble 1, the menupoint “make this bubble a bubble manager”. After activating this menupoint the storage bubble 1 can send via its communication means,indicated with 3 in FIG. 1, requests to the other bubbles 8, 50, 51 totransmit information about the contents stored in them. Metadata aboutcontent on storage bubbles that do not react could be replaced byinformation that is available in the local metadata database of thestorage bubble acting as manager; the content of the non-responsivebubbles of course remains unreachable. The storage bubble manager couldindicate this. Further, it could be possible that content of thenon-responsive bubble is available on any other bubble that isreachable. When a user selects content of a storage bubble that isunreachable the manager could select a copy of the selected content onanother storage bubble that is reachable.

The content stored in the storage bubble network 17, as shown in FIG. 1,can be represented in a hierarchical manner. The synergy between virtualand physical representation of storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 results fromthe fact that the content is physically segmented on different storagebubbles 1, 8, 50, 51. The content can also be virtually segmented atmultiple content representation levels, from a rudimentary way to a finegranularity representation.

All of the content available in the storage bubble network indicatedwith 17 in FIG. 1 can be logically clustered in an intelligent way bymeans of the bubble manager. The intelligent clustering of content isalso performed by using the metadata provided by the storage bubbles 1,8, 50, 51, wherein similar contents build clusters of multiple levels ofgranularity. So videos stored in the storage bubble network 17 canconstitute a cluster. This cluster can be divided into sub-clusters suchas action movies or comedies etc. These sub-clusters can be divided infurther sub-clusters according to for instance actors who play in themovies etc. All these information used for clustering are available inthe form of metadata.

Also the content analysis processing required for analyzing low-levelfeatures and extracting metadata in the storage system or the network ofstorage bubbles can be done centralized by a master device too, forexample, on the storage bubble manager.

Further instead of having the bubbles just lying around, the bubbles 1,8, 50, 51 could be inserted in collets or slots, respectively, in a kindof grid-tray connected or connectable to the storage bubble manager. Inthis way power can be supplied by the bubble manager to inserted bubblesand possibly also all communication between the bubbles could behandled. The storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 can comprise according to thisembodiment of the invention connection means corresponding withconnection means of the grid tray to provide bus bar or data busconnections, for example, metal sheets. The grid tray can compriseretainers for the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 and the management devicein which the bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 and the management device can be putinto. The power for the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 can be supplied bymeans of the grid tray itself too, for example, the grid tray cancomprise a power supply. Alternatively the grid tray can be connected tothe public electricity network, by means of a suitable current adapter.

In the embodiments the storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 can be very simple.The simplest forms are storage bubbles 1, 8, 50, 51 only containingstorage, a small display and/or other indication methods, a processorand a communicating means.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustraterather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art willbe capable of designing many alternative embodiments without departingfrom the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Inthe claims, any reference signs placed in parentheses shall not beconstrued as limiting the claims. The word “comprising” and “comprises”,and the like, does not exclude the presence of elements or steps otherthan those listed in any claim or the specification as a whole. Thesingular reference of an element does not exclude the plural referenceof such elements and vice-versa. In a device claim enumerating severalmeans, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same itemof hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutuallydifferent dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of thesemeasures cannot be used to advantage. The terms “data” and “content”have been used interchangeably through the text, but are to beunderstood as equivalents.

1. A portable data storage device, comprising: means for setting aninformation source for a storage profile for organizing contentavailable to the data storage device; means for receiving storageprofile update data from the information source means for updating thestorage profile based upon the storage profile update data received fromthe information source; means for organizing content based upon thestorage profile; and means for triggering the means for receivingstorage profile update data from the information source.
 2. The portabledata storage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means fororganizing content based upon the storage profile comprises: means forsearching for data stored on a second data storage device that match thestorage profile of the data storage device; means for receiving datafrom the second data storage device; and means for storing the receiveddata in the data storage device if the received data matches the storageprofile.
 3. The portable data storage device as claimed in claim 1,wherein the means for updating the storage profile comprises means forcreating a second storage profile based upon the storage profile updatedata received from the information source, wherein the second storageprofile is arranged to replace the storage profile.
 4. The portable datastorage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the storage profile updatedata received from the information source is in an equivalent format tothat of the storage profile.
 5. The portable data storage device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the means for updating the storage profilecomprises means for analyzing using an analysis method the storageprofile update data received from the information source.
 6. Theportable data storage device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the analysismethod is stored within a permanent memory.
 7. The portable data storagedevice as claimed in claim 5, wherein the analysis method is storedwithin the storage profile.
 8. The portable data storage device asclaimed in claim 5, wherein the analysis method is received from theinformation source.
 9. The portable data storage device as claimed inclaim 2, wherein the storage profile update data received from theinformation source comprises metadata describing content stored in oneof a permanent memory, the second data storage device, and an externalcontent source.
 10. The data storage device as claimed in claim 2,further comprising means for performing, on reception of a searchrequest from the second data storage device, a transmittal of found datato the second data storage device matching with a third storage profileof the second data storage device.
 11. The data storage device asclaimed in claim 10, further comprising means for deciding, using thestorage profile and the third storage profile of the second data storagedevice, whether to transmit a copy of requested data to the second datastorage device or to move the requested data to the second data storagedevice t.
 12. The data storage device as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising means for analyzing the content to extract features of thecontent or corresponding metadata.
 13. The data storage device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the communication means is arranged forwireless communication and data exchange.
 14. The data storage device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the means for triggering is a timing means.15. The data storage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means fortriggering is an input means.
 16. A distributed self organizing systemfor storing data, the system comprising: at least two autonomous storagedevices comprising means for exchanging data with one another, whereinthe system is arranged to search for data stored on the storage devices,that match a storage profile of the storage devices and to store datamatching said storage profile in the storage devices with a matchingstorage profile, the system further comprising: means for receivingstorage profile update data from the information source; means forupdating the storage profile based upon the storage profile update datareceived from the information source; and means for triggering the meansfor receiving storage profile update data from the information source.17. A method of self organizing data, the method comprising: setting aninformation source for a storage profile to be used for organizingcontent available to the data storage device; retrieving storage profileupdate data from the information source; updating the storage profilebased upon the storage profile update data received from the informationsource; organizing content based upon the storage profile; andtriggering the means for receiving storage profile update data from theinformation source.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the organizingcontent based upon the storage profile further comprises: synchronizingmetadata with a second data storage device; determining data to berequested from the second data storage device; requesting the data fromthe second data storage device; receiving the data from the second datastorage device.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the organizingcontent based upon the storage profile further comprises: receivingreceived data requests from the second data storage device; evaluatingthe received data requests from the second data storage device; decidingwhich received data requests will become granted received data requests;transmitting, for each granted received data request, data referred toin the granted received data request to the second data storage device.20. The method of claim 17, wherein the organizing content based uponthe storage profile further comprises: synchronizing storage profileswith a second data storage device; determining data to be offered to thesecond data storage device; transmitting data offers to the second datastorage device; receiving responses to the data offers from the seconddata storage device; transmitting data to the second data storage devicecorresponding to accepted data offers from the second data storagedevice.
 21. The method of claim 17, wherein the organizing content basedupon the storage profile further comprises: receiving received dataoffers from the second data storage device; evaluating the received dataoffers from the second data storage device; deciding which received dataoffers will become accepted received data offers; transmitting anacknowledgement for each accepted received data offer; receiving foreach accepted received data offer, data referred to in the acceptedreceived data offer from the second data storage device.
 22. The methodclaim 17, wherein the updating the storage profile based upon thestorage profile update data received from the information source furthercomprises analyzing the storage profile update data received from theinformation source.
 23. The method of claim 17, wherein the organizingcontent based upon the storage profile further comprises analyzing thecontent using content analysis to extract information containedintrinsically within the content.
 24. (canceled)
 25. A method oforganizing content in a distributed self organizing system of datastorage devices, each of the data storage devices comprising a storageprofile, and an information source (6), the method comprising:transmitting a request for storage profile update data to theinformation source; receiving the storage profile update data from theinformation source; updating the each storage profile based upon thestorage profile update data received from the information source;organizing content based upon the each storage profile; and triggeringthe transmission of a request for storage profile update data to theinformation source.
 26. A computer program product loadable into amemory of a programmable device, comprising software code portions forperforming the steps of a method according to claim 17 when said productis run on the device.